"I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use -- silence, exile, and cunning." -- James Joyce

When You Live in La-La-Land

"By the way, according to the New York State seat belt law, Police/Fire and Ambulances (along with Taxis, Liveries, and Buses other than School Buses—I wonder what’s up with that) are exempt from having to wear seat belts. Again, control for you and me, but not for the State’s “chosen.” Or perhaps the State just doesn’t love police, firemen, EMTs, cabbies, and bus drivers as much as it loves us?"

Perhaps David Kramer is unaware of this, but New York allows anyone, even LRC writers, to ride in buses, cabs, and livery vehicles. So, the "State's chosen" turns out to be... everyone! Hurray!

2 comments:

This is what puzzles me about some libertarians. They oppose those kind of laws, but if those rules were created by the owners of a gated community giving those "privileges" to its private security agency, they wouldn't say anything. Strange.

Is the law that bus and taxi passengers don't have to wear seat belts or that bus and taxi drivers don't have to do so? To the extent the exemption includes passengers then of course the "State's chosen" would potentially include anyone. But on its face the law appears to apply to passengers only if they are sitting in the front seat (which would be rare for a taxi and impossible for a bus). On the other hand, if the law means that a cabbie or bus driver doesn't have to wear a belt, then that's kind of odd, given how much time they spend driving.